Safety for Community Health Nurses in Rural and Remote Communities: A Literature Review and Research
Graduation Year
2022
Document Type
Senior Thesis
Degree
Bachelor of Science in Nursing
Primary Major
Nursing
Primary Minor
Global Public Health
Thesis Advisor
Patricia Harris, PhD, RN, CNS
Abstract
Many safety measures devised and implemented are focused on urban hospital settings, which differs from rural and remote settings. Community health nurses are expected to travel and visit their clients’ homes alone, which leaves the nurses vulnerable to their environment. This brings up the question: Does the safety of community health nurses in rural and remote areas have an impact on the care provided in the communities that they serve? After reviewing the six primary literature, three common themes were revealed: lack of boundaries in their personal and professional lives, safety concerns (i.e. isolated geographical locations, workplace violence), and increased workload.
The conducted research continued with the focus on community health nurses who work in rural and remote communities in the United States. The mixed-method study design was performed using a survey asking quantitative and qualitative questions to identify nurses’ safety concerns and perspectives on quality of patient care. The quantitative data utilized descriptive statistics while the qualitative data was explored and content analysis with a grounded theory was utilized to find themes that arose.
Keywords: challenges, community health nurses, rural and remote communities, impact of safety